Posted on 03/01/2015 3:58:35 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Just a few weeks ago, the idea that Apple might make a car seemed like an outlandish rumour. Today, it's accepted by many as gospel. Numerous reports have filtered through in recent days, providing more detail on Apple's automotive ambitions.
Of course, nothing has been confirmed yet. The Apple Car would be a massive, multi-year undertaking. But here's what we've heard so far:
It's called Project Titan. The detail comes via a report from the Wall Street Journal.
It's an electric car. This puts the company in competition with Tesla, which develops cutting edge electric-powered vehicles. VC and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis has predicted Apple will acquire Tesla in 18 months — for an eye-watering $75 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also expressed a repeated interest in renewable energy. The company recently announced it's building a $850 million solar plant to power its California operations.
It looks like a minivan. The prototype could be subject to change before it hits the roads, however.
Apple has hundreds of people working on Project Titan, including senior figures from the automotive industry. This includes former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky, who helped build the iPhone. There's also Johann Jungwirth, who was Mercedes Benz's R&D chief before being hired by Apple in September 2014.
Apple employees have been working on Project Titan for more than a year, and this team has permission to grow to 1,000-strong. This is backed up by a previous FT report, which claimed Apple has "dozens" of employees working at a "new top-secret research lab" — and is "recruiting experts in automotive technology and vehicle design."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Why on Earth would Apple buy Tesla outright? Elon Musk already placed the patents in the public domain. All I can see that they’d get from the purchase is the dealer network and charging stations, and I’d think they could build that out or sign a deal with Tesla for a lot less than $75B.
The car or the girl? :)
You’re so much in the tank for Apple you can’t even recognize a joke, apparently. One doesn’t have to hate Apple to make a good joke. I have a couple of iPads, iPhones and a MacBook Pro, but can still appreciate a good joke - and that WAS one. :0)
It needs an Apple name, I suggest “Wealthy”, or if it’s made entirely of artificial sapphire, “Transparent”.
/jk
It looked ok in my browser. My bad. Late evening, too much Chinese takeout, and fiddling with rendering in 4K with vegas took me eyes off the ball.
I’m fairly sure there is a car there.
Autoboot?
Give me a Tesla any day.
That never came out of Apple. It's some guy's idea of an Apple car from years ago.
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